Illinois · Nonprofit
COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE
COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $191,933 to it, the largest being HAROLD M & ADELINE S MORRISON FAMILY FOUNDATION ($65,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $198k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $192k
- Net assets
- $29k
What Cool Learning Experience does
Mission
Cool Learning Experience offers out of school programs for school aged children in the Waukegan area, using STEAM-based age appropriate curriculum with an environmental focus.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
Cool Learning Experience (CLE) continued its commitment to high-quality, nature-based programming aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), while integrating social-emotional learning, social justice, and environmental education. This year, CLE connected over 250 people to nature through 45+ outdoor outings. Family and community events included the Earth Month & Migrating Birds Celebration (April) and Nature Fun Fest (August), hosted with partners such as REI, Sharing Our Shore Waukegan, Lake County Forest Preserves, and the Lake County Audubon Society. Families engaged in hands-on activities like T-shirt recycling, seed bomb making, and sustainability education. The Cool Summer Experience (June-August) enrolled 48 youth-a 20% increase-expanding to two four-week sessions with 85% of programming outdoors and average attendance above 70%. Notably, 75% of Program Assistants were former CLE participants, underscoring CLE's commitment to cultivating future community leaders.
$129,464 spentof which $127,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $129,464.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $69k to $33k (−53%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
100% of COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Maritza Rocha
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $10k → $21k.
4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 10 of 12 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 49% · 2021 73% · 2022 100% · 2023 48% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
25% of COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 25% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
88% of COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $36k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE has grown faster than half of the 17,450 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,450 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE?
- COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $191,933 to it, the largest being HAROLD M & ADELINE S MORRISON FAMILY FOUNDATION ($65,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $191,933 in grants to COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE?
- HAROLD M & ADELINE S MORRISON FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $65,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COOL LEARNING EXPERIENCE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Cool Learning Experience →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 12 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing